WiFi Light Swtch

lunacyfoundme

Does anyone know if there's such a thing as a WiFi enabled light switch?

I just had a thought about controlling the lights in my house over the network with some sort of WiFi enabled actuator.

And when I mean lights I mean the main lights not just plug in lamps and such.

salmocab

never heard of one but there are ways to do things like this using various systems that are available think control 4 can do it but needs a lot of wiring and relays far too much trouble unless you really need it. However someone might have an idea of a simple switch with some sort of wifi connection.

lunacyfoundme

Belkin have a WiFi light switch in their WeMo range but its bundled with custom software. I'd like a very simple thing that I could write my own software for.

Mr. G

I looked up this before and really on the retail market now its the Belkin WeMo range that's there. There are others, but are more smart home stuff.

roast

Raspberry Pi with custom software and smartphone app.
Will be setting up something similar to the link below when I move into my new gaff. A bit of a daunting task, but very interesting.

Have a look...
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=37085

FoxT

I think Zigbee will probably be more suitable than wifi for this, ultimately. It hasnt achieved high market penetration yet. It has significant advantages over wifi, including

- Cheaper hardware
- much lower power consumption
- much lower spectrum usage (5MHz, instead of 20-22 MHz for 802.11 b/g & 40 MHz for 802.11n)

- Low spectrum usage allows it to coexist with existing 802.11x networks in 2.4GHz space without interfering with wifi networks.

- Mesh networking capability

Data rates are much, much slower than wi-fi - but that is not a drawback for simple controls such as light switches (even dimmer switches) etc...

-FoxT

Antar Bolaeisk

A cheap wireless adapter such as this: http://hackaday.com/2009/08/30/cheap-wireless-for-microcontrollers/

You'd have a lot of cobbling together to do but you could connect it to a microcontroller and have everything running off a locally hosted website. You'd also have easy expandabilty instead of tying yourself down to one lightbulb.

Possibly something worth looking at: http://blog.oxplot.com/bluetooth-power-board/, uses bluetooth instead of wireless and is switching a much heavier load but you may be able to draw some inspiration.

zg3409

Be sure to put a manual over-ride on it, where people expect, where the light switch would go. Sure it would be fun to control lights and things using a smart phone but remember the day to day expectation and safety of having a switch on the wall where you can turn the light off and on.

Where I work the wall switches suggest to the controller to turn the lights off and on. Press upper half for off, lower half for on, but the system can over-ride. It also has movement and daylight sensors.

If playing with mains electricity be warned it can easily kill, hence off the shelf remote controlled plugs and sockets are simpler and safer.

Not used it myself but this might do the job:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/lightwaverf-wi-fi-link-lighting-power-heating-control/87613

http://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/home-automation/cat4320011

The cost of these systems quickly add up, especially if electricians are needed to wire up things on site. Commercial grade systems are crazy money.

Mark.87

Belkin WeMo with "if this then that" (ifttt.com) works perfect. Can get a little expensive if you want a few WeMo's.